Bechtel - Environmental Record

Environmental Record

On January 23, 1996, the Washington Department of Ecology fined Bechtel $5,000 for hazardous waste violations on an incident where a flying drum lid barely missed two workers due to the build-up of pressure inside a drum and improper closure operations. The penalty was issued because of inadequate worker training which led to an incorrectly labeled drum. Inspections also discovered that Bechtel kept inaccurate records keeping of cleanup waste, which violated state regulations.

In 1998, Bechtel was fined $90,000 for violating water quality laws in New Hampshire for constructing a gas pipeline, which would have leaked sediments into the stream that would increase turbidity and damage wetland habitats.

On October 29, 2001, the EPA fined Bechtel $30,383 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for not keeping records of any service being performed or of how much refrigerant was added to the cooling systems, which could increase annualized leak rates more than 15%.

In 2009, it was announced that Bechtel would team up with BrightSource Energy to build solar energy plants. The partnership will have Bechtel build very large solar power plants in the Mojave desert with groundbreaking beginning in 2010. The new plants will have a field of mirrors redirecting sunlight to a tower filled with water, which will then boil and turn the turbines.